Some thoughts
Was it just me, or did last night feel like an odd dream?
First of all, I understand there’s going to be a lot of stuff going down tonight, so doing the end of season awards last night made sense. However, it would have been nice had the organization put out the word somehow. Don’t we have someone who works for the local paper who is supposed to find this stuff out and post about it? I know he’s been a bit busy copying from theahl.com about what other teams are doing, but this would have been a simple thing to report on. Barring him, what about the organization itself? It could have done it through those Crunch alerts I never seem to get anymore, or through the Twitter account, or through the Facebook group, or the Facebook fan page. Come on, front office, it’s not rocket science! I always liked the end of season awards and had I decided to skip last night’s game (unlikely, I know, but play along for a minute) I would have been really disappointed because I didn’t know they were going to do them a night early. I’m sure there are others out there who feel the same.
Also, doing them last night…I don’t know, but it almost seemed like it cheapended them a little. The awards are usually done on the final night for a reason. It’s how we say goodbye to these players. This year, we’re really saying goodbye to a lot of them, so it would have been nice to be able to do it tonight. The night just felt weird. There was no end of the season clip show–though I understand there will be one tonight–there was no goodbye to the fans at the end, the captain of the team (who apparently isn’t even in town anymore…) didn’t address us. It just felt really weird and anticlimatic.
Of course, that could have been due to the awards themselves.
I have several gripes with what was handed out this year. High up on the list is Brendan fucking Bell getting the defensive awards. Was he one of our top producers? Yes. But was he an amazing defenseman? Good God no. The man was an insult to that position. He couldn’t stop a puck if was six feet around with flashing lights glued to the top to alert everyone of its position. They should have just made him a forward and been done with it for all the good he did us on the blue line. I’m sick and tired of people being recognized just because they score goals. If the award is for that, then by all means hand it over to the proper players. But just because someone has a “D” slapped beside their name on the roster does not mean they’re a proper defenseman.
The second problem I had was with the fact that Kevin Lalande wasn’t recognized at all. That guy did nothing short of standing on his head during so many games. He single-handily was our defense some nights. He worked his ass off, improved so much during the course of this season, and yet got nothing for it last night. What happened to the Three Stars of the Game award? He should have at least gotten that, he was in our top three stars nearly every night it seemed. I don’t understand why he wasn’t recognized.
And, finally, my last beef is with the MVP award. I was pissed off about it last year and I really wasn’t happy with it this year, either. Derek MacKenzie again? Really? I know he was captain and I’m sure he did a fine job. And yea, he also scored a bunch. But to me, Danny Fritsche worked much harder and was much more visible and vocal out there than MacKenzie was. I don’t understand what they look at for these things. Fritsche could have come into this town with a chip on his shoulder and an “I don’t give a fuck” attitude, something I’m sure not many would have blamed him for. A lot of players this year seemed to have that–*cough*Roy*cough*–yet Fritsche probably deserved it the most out of all of them. And yet he didn’t. He never took a night off, he always worked hard, he visibly supported the younger players, and he just did some amazing things. MacKenzie was fine this year. I didn’t have the problems with him I had last year. But Fritsche just seemed to show up so much more. That was an opportunity wasted to recognize that.I was glad he got Wing of the Year, but really…what other winger could they have recognized?
The Crunch still had a game to play after those awards, and I gotta say it was pretty good . It’s too bad CBJ just didn’t pitch the team and call up all these randoms in December, like some of us asked them to. We could have been seeing hockey like that all year. Now granted, from what I understand Hamilton wasn’t fully stocked either, so the game probably shouldn’t have been as close and exciting as it was. But it gives me hope for tonight that maybe we’ll see somewhat of a competitive game. I have a feeling there’s going to be a lot of Rochester fans in the crowd. It’s going to make for an interesting night.
You know who else could have done something to let us know the awards were going to be a night early? Joe Brown. But he’s been too busy locked in his room, thinking up questions to ask the players about each other. That man is so f’ing obnoxious! Frischmon was on the Shootout Show last night. You know, the player who recently got his first call up to the NHL? The player who had some chatter around him about how fast he was and how much that was impressing the front office over there? Yea, that one. Instead of asking Frischmon about his time up there, he asked him if he knew how excited Jon Mirasty is for tonight, because Mirasty was suspended the last time we played Rochester and couldn’t play. How the hell is Trevor Frischmon supposed to know what Jon Mirasty is feeling? If Brown wants to know what Mirasty is feeling, how about he just ask Mirasty? Brown does this constantly and it’s so annoying. He really can’t do his job properly. Someone somewhere has to know this, right?
So, tonight is it, Crunch fans. This will be the last game we will all see with players on CBJ’s payroll. Wow. It’s kind of weird, isn’t it? This is the night a lot of us have been living for all season. I’m looking forward to the clip show a few people have talked about. Apparently it’s supposed to include highlights–positive, I’m sure–from the 10 year relationship. Trevor Frischmon’s goal better be there. I want to see it again, damn it. I wouldn’t mind seeing some Goehring or Fritsche’s goal from the 2005-06 playoffs, either. I’m sure we’ll be seeing Sugden and Mirasty fights. Feel free to comment here on what you guys would like to see tonight!
It’d be really nice to get one win over Rochester and this is the last chance we have, kids. I hope the boys are ready. I’ve heard some interesting whispers of Mirasty planning to, uh, lay it all out tonight, but I’d rather prefer he didn’t go out to hurt anyone just because they’re in the playoffs and we’re not. That kind of play is bull shit. I know he has nothing to lose–CBJ really has no incentive to sign him again next year without Howard’s influence, so he’s playing to impress anyone he can–but let’s keep it civil, okay? We love him for his crazy ability to fight one-on-one, not for his ability to put someone in the hospital.
Enjoy this one, Crunch fans, best you can. It’s gotta last us till October. GO CRUNCH!
